


[LOSERSCLUBONLY]

by reallyamerica



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, College AU, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, Losers Club (IT) Friendship, Love Triangles, M/M, Movie: IT (2017), Multi, Mutual Pining, Oops, Poly Losers - Freeform, Polyamory, Reddie, Self-Indulgent, Slow Burn, Stanlon - Freeform, Stenbrough, benverly - Freeform, im using this fic to like, like almost everything I write that’s not specifically for someone or incredibly short, probably a little bit of slowburn but honestly we’ll see, share chaos from my own friend group and life but via the Losers, sorry if this is literally interesting to no one but me but I had to do it, this is super duper, too much dialogue, vent - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 01:30:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21227564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reallyamerica/pseuds/reallyamerica
Summary: A group of best friends (who have, of course, designated themselves as the Losers club) deal with the stress of college, jobs, and parents, all while afraid to watch the dynamic of their group change as everyone dates each other....Typical college-au stuff, but with a super self-indulgent twist. A bunch of the Losers are RAs in this, and all of them are full-time students trying to juggle jobs on the side. Also, this fic really follows the ups and downs of all the Losers and quite a few different relationships, but it’s also definitely Reddie-centric. Hope y’all enjoy friend group shenanigans and drama!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Since I know this will be asked—
> 
> RA = resident assistant, a college campus job that involves policy enforcement/planning events/etc. 
> 
> It’s those people in movies who bust college dorm parties, but portrayed here more realistically as students who just need to be able to afford housing rather than as authority figures on a power trip.
> 
> This being part of the fic is probably not important to anyone who isn’t an RA themselves, but that’s okay because it’s not super vital to the main story, anyway.
> 
> On with the fic!

“You… still haven’t filled out a report about that broken faucet in the bathroom, have you?” Stan asked without looking up from the homework he was working on. Richie crinkled his brows at his friend, peeking at him over the top of his laptop from where he sat on the floor of his dorm by a bookshelf full of textbooks and bird encyclopedias, or whatever.

It was early evening, and through the blinds stripes of golden hour sunlight lined one of the sparingly decorated walls. Soft sounds of the last commuter students trickling off campus could be heard from outside.

“No, but there’s two other sinks. No resident has said anything to me about it yet, so, it’s not super high on my list of priorities.” He replied, gaze dipping back to the notes on his screen. He resumed looking them over as Bill spun around in Stan’s roommate’s desk chair. Stan sighed.

“You’re a terrible RA, you know that, right?”

“J-just awful, really.” Bill chimed in.

Richie rolled his eyes.

“You know, if I gave a fuck that _ might _ bother me. Good thing I don’t. S’long as I don’t get fired I don’t mind if I’m the worst.”

This was not news to anyone in the room, but Bill and Beverly, who was swinging her feet over the side of Stan’s bed, still scoffed at his attitude. They shared a look, briefly, of affectionate condescending regarding just how much better they both were at the job than Rich. Ben and Eddie would likely have joined if they’d been there, in the moment. 

Which reminded Beverly…

“As much as _ love _talking about work— are we gonna go anytime soon? I’m hungry, and Richie and Bill aren’t even working on anything anymore. Can you put your stuff on pause, Stanny?” She asked sweetly, rising to her feet and picking her jacket up as she did so. 

Bill made a face that said _ you’re not wrong _.

“Hey,” Richie protested, “I’m working on something! It’s just for the radio. But that’s still _ something _.”

Now Beverly rolled her eyes.

“Something that can easily be done anytime, instead of right now when all I wanna do is go eat. Stan?” She dismissed him, her attention still directed to the tidy mess of curls facing away from her at his desk.

“Sure, just let me finish up this column I’m on, and then we can head out. Go ahead and text everybody else that we’ll meet soon.”

By everyone else, Stan just meant the three other friends who weren’t currently present. Eddie, Mike, and Ben. So Beverly opened their group chat and sent a quick message about when they were leaving to get food.

Ben responded immediately, saying he’d be there. Eddie answered next, just sending an OK and liking her message. Richie liked his OK text. Bill sent a smiley emoji, glad that neither Eddie or Ben were busy. There was a pause, and then Mike sent something about being unsure if he could make it because he had a lot of work to get done for his internship. By this point, everyone was looking at their phones.

[LOSERSCLUBONLY]

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 5:26pm _

_ –Mikey mboy you gotta eat sometime _

_ –why not make it the time when all of ur friends are also doing it and want u to be there? _

_ Bill Denbrough _

_ 5:27pm _

_ –yeah! don’t skip out on us buddy! _

_ Ben Hanscom _

_ 5:27pm _

_ –it’s the most fun when we’re all there _

_ Beverly Marsh _

_ 5:27pm _

_ –we miss uuuuu _

_ Mike Hanlon _

_ 5:29pm _

_ –… _

_ –you guys saw me on sunday _

_ –that was a day and a half ago _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 5:29pm _

_ –so??? _

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 5:30pm _

_ –^ what the spaghetti man said _

_ –theres no logic to this _

_ –we just want ur company and will fight for it if we must _

_ Mike Hanlon _

_ 5:30pm _

_ –u want to fight over this _

_ –u want to fight me because i have work to do _

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 5:30pm _

_ –or maybe just to prove that i can defeat you,,, we’ll never know if u don’t show dude _

_ –show up + square up _

_ –these fists _

_ –they’re ready 2 rumble _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 5:31pm _

_ –shut uP Richie _

_ –Mike plz come to dinner _

_ –we’ll all cry if u don’t _

_ Stanley Uris _

_ 5:31pm _

_ –Mike, if you take a break right now to come get dinner, we can both work on stuff during our lunch break tomorrow. I’ll get you food on my meal plan. _

_ Bill Denbrough _

_ 5:31pm _

_ –An offer no college student can afford to resist, truly _

_ –I know I couldn’t _

_ Beverly Marsh _

_ 5:32pm _

_ –sO are you gonna join us??? _

_ Mike Hanlon _

_ 5:33pm _

_ –you know what yeah I’ll meet y’all there @ 6 _

_ –and ty Stan! _

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 5:33pm _

_ –FUCK YEAH _

Once Stan was at a good stopping point in his work they all gathered their coats, and everyone else but Stan picked up their backpacks, and they went outside to meet Ben and Eddie by the quad.

What had started out as a spontaneous thing during work training the previous year, with everyone but Stan and Mike and Ben, initially, _ ( _ because Bill and Stan and Eddie and Richie had known each other since they were kids, but Stan wasn’t an RA so he came later when other students moved into the dorms, and they found Beverly right at the start when they showed up as new RAs, but it also wasn’t until later during training that they collected Mike, and not til the end of the previous school year that they found Ben and convinced him to apply to be an RA for this year, and then bonded with him during training _ ) _, had quickly become a friend-group tradition. At least once a week, the entire gang would get together and go get food from somewhere other than the school cafeteria. It was good for the soul and for the appetite, and kept everyone mostly in the loop on each others’ lives, so they tried to make sure nobody skipped unless it was absolutely necessary.

And their favorite place to go, that they settled on most often, was this cute little Chinese restaurant like a block and a half away from campus. Which was where they were headed.

Everyone except for Mike and Bill lived on the same side of campus, so most of the gang meeting at the quad to leave together was the norm, and Bill was over Stan’s to hangout today so they had everyone except for Mike, who was living in an apartment right by the side of campus where Bill’s dorm was. Which meant they weren’t walking together like they usually did, and which Bill had apologized for in a text just to him, but it was one week out of the year, and there were always gonna be occasional exceptions to the pattern, so all was well.

Hitting the quad, Richie bounded out ahead of the pack and swept Eddie under his arm, giving him a playful knuckle to the top of his head.

“Eds, how d’ya think you did on that econ quiz? Stan said it was fucking _ brutal _.” Richie schmoozed, keeping ahold of the other. Eddie swatted him lightly.

“Don’t call me that! And I think I passed, which was better than I felt about it when I went into class, so,” he shrugged. Richie laughed and let go of him, sort of reluctantly. Bill gave Eddie a thumbs up.

“I’m sure you did fine.” Stan told him. “Just because I said it was hard doesn’t mean I don’t think we did well on it, Rich.”

Richie bumped his shoulder into Beverly’s, motioning with a peace sign to his lips for a cigarette, while Stan and Eddie both shot him a disapproving look. Bev just got out her carton and bummed him one.

“Either way, one quiz isn’t the be all end all for the class.” Ben said, reassuringly.

Bill, tucking his hands into his pockets, nodded in agreement.

“B-buh-but enough about school, f-for now, we g-g-gotta hustle to meet M-Mikey. It s-suh-seems like he n-needs our help t-to d-d-de-stress, today.” 

So they went on their way.

Even though they’d gotten sidetracked at the quad, they still had beat Mike to the restaurant. (_ The Jade of the Orient. _ A delicious and affordable little treasure.) But only by a moment, because he rushed in while they were asking for a table for seven. Almost all the hosts knew their party on sight, by now, but occasionally they got someone they didn’t know and had to ask for a big enough table. Tonight was one of those nights.

They got one of their favorite spots in the back (second only to the private room with the lattice wall with an arch doorway in to a big round table, and fish tanks everywhere), a weird L-shaped table by the kitchen. Mike, Bill and Stan sat on one leg, Ben, Beverly, Richie, and Eddie sat on the other. And they all unfolded their menus.

“So, what’s on the agenda for this meeting of the Losers club?” Richie asked as he skimmed the poultry section for a meal that suited his mood. “Anybody have any important business to bring to the table?”

Everyone glanced around at each other, before Ben decided to go first.

“I finally started working on my application for that architecture firm I wanna intern at. I should be able to submit it by this weekend, as long as I can get a few people to look over it when it’s done and it doesn’t need too much revision.” He announce, smiling tentatively. Beverly was beaming, Richie winced.

If he got that internship, he might not work as an RA next year. He might quit and live off campus, just like Mike did. Which was objectively cool, and all, but it felt like a grown-up move, and those tended to intimidate Richie a bit.

“The RA squad will be sad to lose you if you get it, but way happier that you’ll be living your dream, so good luck and Godspeed, my man.” He said, pretending to tip an old-timey trilby hat in Ben’s direction. Eddie shot him a look.

“T-that’s awesome, Ben. I b-bet they’re gonna love you, r-r-right away. Keep us p-posted on what you hear back.” Bill replied cheerily. Eddie, Richie, Mike, and Beverly all nodded.

“I’d be happy to look over your resume and everything before you send it in, too. Just to help you feel good about it, going in.” Stan added, which Ben seemed grateful to hear. 

Richie cleared his throat.

“Wonderful update, chap. Anybody else got news to deliver?” He asked the table, tearing open a package of chopsticks and fiddling with them.

Mike steepled his fingers, making a face.

“Just this: work is _ ass _ .” Without saying anything else, they knew he meant his library job. His internship he liked, even though it could be a lot sometimes, but it didn’t pay very well. So his primary income was his work at the university library. Which _ sucked _. Beverly patted his shoulder sympathetically.

“Absolutely correct. Thank you for sharing, Mr. Hanlon. Next?” Richie asked again, and looked around.

For a minute, nobody said anything, just peered back at Richie’s inquisitive expression. And then Eddie spoke up.

“Well, I came out to my mother today. Finally.” He stated in a small voice.

Everyone looked at him with wide eyes. This was out of the blue. He hadn’t mentioned anything about planning to come out to her anytime soon. This was a wild card. Richie reached out and hesitantly touched his arm. Bill followed suit.

“Okay,” Beverly started, “how’d it go, hon?” She was looking at him tenderly as she spoke, slight concern in her eyes. Eddie shrugged.

“Fine. She didn’t freak out or anything, which was good. She did say that she _ knew it _, which was annoying, but I kinda expected that. I mean, look at me, right? That’s fair.” He answered, chuckling slightly at the end. Richie seemed to let out a breath he’d been holding in relief.

“True, it _ is _ hard to miss how much of a twink you are, Eds.” He teased, and Eddie flipped him off.

“S-so, how’re you feeling?” Bill asked, wanting to check that he was really alright. 

Eddie shrugged again.

“I’m okay. Part of me is super relieved that it’s over with, part of me wishes I’d waited ‘til a night when I didn’t have homework that still needs to be done, because I feel pretty drained from talking to her, but I’ll be good. I don’t have any super early classes tomorrow. But, well, yeah. That happened.” He said this with some finality, like he didn’t wanna say anything more about it right now, and looked to Richie.

Richie got the hint.

“Thank you for you contribution, Eduardo. We’re proud of you. Anyone else?” He gave it a moment, and no one piped up. He arched a brow.

“No? My turn, then! I got promoted, or whatever, at the station! I found out this morning. Now, instead of a 15 minute part of someone else’s segment, I get to DJ and host my own chunk of the schedule. Every Tuesday and Thursday, 8-10pm, it’s the Richard Tozier show _ on the radio! _ Starting this week, after today.” He dropped his chin into the check of his right hand index finger and thumb, grinning crookedly. 

Bill applauded, Mike clapped him on the shoulder, Stan shot him a warm smile, and Ben laughed happily.

“Sweetie, that’s so cool! Congratulations!” Beverly cheered, reaching out and giving him a high five, which he eagerly accepted.

“I’m not surprised,” Eddie said “they love your stupid voices. Everybody that likes the school station for anything more than just the music likes your part the best, so it was really only a matter of time before you got a show to yourself. What’re you gonna do with all that time, though?”

Richie folded his arms behind his head, smirking with just a little bit of pride.

“Play some good fucking music, toy with callers, and test a fuckton of new material I’ve been working on—wait ‘til you hear this shit, bitch, it’s comedy _ gold _. I think the listeners are gonna fuck with it, and my bosses already think I’m hilarious, so, I’m just really fucking excited to finally get to actually do the fucking radio host thing!”

“Wow, Rich, you might have to work on your self-censoring, first, if you’re gonna be a real live radio DJ now. You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Eddie scolded, jokingly. Richie cracked a lopsided grin, laughter in his eyes. He stared at Eddie.

“No, but I _ do _ kiss _ yours _, and sh–“

“_ Beep beep _, Richie!”

The rest of the night was a series of jokes, sharing stories, little things they hadn’t talked about since last time they were all together, and absolutely pigging out on way too much food. Everyone but Richie and Beverly had leftovers to take home (though, Richie still ended up with some because Eddie halved his and insisted Richie take some, saying he’d never finish it all but really just wanting to make sure Richie had food and would eat regular meals), and they all practically filled their pockets with extra fortune cookies. Richie had a little collage of fortunes going on one of the walls in his dorm, which all of the losers had contributed to at least once. Bill paid the bill on his card, and promptly received six different venmo notifications. Every single person had sent their payment with a different combination of flirty emojis. 

As they left, Mike and Bill split off from the group to head their way, and everyone else stuck together for the journey back to the quad. They chatted about nonsense until the group had to break again to go back to their own dorms. Ben, Beverly, and Eddie all lived in one building, and Richie and Stan lived in another, so they parted ways with a few laughs, hugs, and reminders about plans, all smiles.

While this Losers club dinner had not been incredibly special in and of itself, still a very typical one, even with the announcements that had been made, it marked the beginning of a new era. An era of change that none of them really saw coming, but that was just beginning to brim the horizon. 

[LOSERSCLUBONLY]

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 11:38pm _

_ –gnight Losers !!! _


	2. Chapter 2

Eddie stared at the ceiling in Ben’s dorm. They had the same large gap between classes on a few days of the week, so they often hungout together during it and got lunch. Today they’d picked up some nacho bowls to-go from a fast food place, and Eddie was sitting on the floor eating his, but paused presently to lean against Ben’s bed, his head tilted up. Ben was sitting on his bed reading something for his next class, and nibbling on a tortilla chip.

“You know what, like, the first thing my mom asked me after I came out to her was?” Eddie said, to the room, but in a way that sounded like it was almost entirely him just musing to himself. Ben looked down at him, curiosity written on his face.

“What?”

“She asked if I was dating _ Richie _. Can you believe that?” He sounded incredulous. Ben looked away, and then back again, making a sort of face.

The RichieandEddie dynamic was not often commented on by Richie and Eddie themselves, if ever, despite the fact that _ everyone _ knew something was there. And often was the topic of subtle conversations between the other Losers, who probed each other to see if anyone had any updates. Anything, no matter how small. Because they all felt like they were waiting for something significant. Everyone, it seemed, except for Richie and Eddie.

So Eddie sharing this had taken Ben aback a little bit. He figured he was the last person any of the core four would open up to, but it warmed his heart that he and Eddie were close enough to talk about something that was an unspoken omnipresent part of how the Losers club _ was _. Ben still couldn’t believe he’d been welcomed in so fully, so fast. He loved his friends.

He tilted his head at Eddie.

“Kinda, yeah, actually. I think I can. But what happened?” He asked softly. Eddie snorted.

“I told her no, of course. Because I’m _ not _ , and like, there’s no– we would never! He doesn’t see me like– he doesn’t _ like me like that _. We’re best friends!” He folded his arms tightly in front of his chest.

Ben mulled his reply over.

“Okay, but do… do you like _ him _like that?”

Eddie didn’t meet his gaze for quite some time. And when he finally did, the look in his eyes made Ben’s heart squeeze. He instantly felt bad for asking. Eddie took a breath.

“You like Bev, right?” He responded with a question. Ben wanted to act surprised, but he supposed he knew he wasn’t subtle. And he didn’t have to ask what way Eddie meant, given the current conversation, so he just nodded. Eddie closed his eyes.

“Why don’t you say anything to her?” He continued. Ben saw where this was going.

“Because I’m scared of rejection, I guess, and of losing her altogether. I’d rather have her in my life than drive her away because she doesn’t feel the same.”

Eddie just pointed at him, and went—

“Bingo.”

—

Richie made gagging noises into the cup from which he was sipping a mixed drink that was mostly vodka. Not because of the alcohol, but because he was making fun of Bill.

He and Bill and Beverly were at a medium-sized apartment party off campus, since everyone else was busy or uninterested (not all of the Losers were the party on a regular Wednesday night type), but Beverly had wandered off to dance to a song she liked among the strangers in the biggest room, so at the moment it was just the two of them.

And Bill had spent the last fifteen minutes talking about how wonderful Beverly was and how much he liked her.

This was not an uncommon occurrence, anyone who spent more than a little time with Bill knew, but he didn’t often babble about it to Richie. Sure, Bill and Richie were best friends, so it wasn’t like it was a secret, but it was most often Eddie or Stan or Mike who got an earful on this particular topic because of three simple facts. One, he wasn’t gonna say it to _ Bev _ , obviously, since pining was apparently the name of the game for every Loser’s love life, after all. Two, he knew Ben had similar feelings for her, and while they had no beef or even a real sense of competition about it, that would still be a little weird, _ right _? And three, because Richie and Bev used to have a… something.

Richie had met Beverly before anyone else, both of them hiding in the same spot for a smoke break during training the previous year. And by some combination of luck, stupidity, and mutual boredom, they struck up a sort of friends-who-sometimes-madeout kind of arrangement. The degree of feelings involved was never really addressed, and ended up not really mattering because they both preferred each other as friends in the end, but it was this strange not quite relationship that led Richie to introduce her to the Losers club. And while they only stayed at their pattern of hanging out and sucking face for just about a month, everyone was well aware that it had been a thing. Because it hadn’t been a secret, first off, but also because of the visible hickies, and Richie’s big mouth.

They never stopped being close, but one day that part of their dynamic just wasn’t there anymore. And that was that.

But apparently, slight intoxication was enough for Bill to decide that despite all that, Richie’s ear was as good as any, and to start rambling about his silent admiration of Bev.

“Bill, dude, I get it. She’s great. You like her. Stop whining about it and just do something, before I throw up. If I hear one more word about how ethereal she is, or whatever, I promise you, I _ swear _ I will puke all over the front of your shirt. And I won’t be even a little sorry.” Richie told him, knocking back the last of what was in his cup. 

He burped and then turned toward the kitchen. Bill walked alongside him.

“B-but she hasn’t g-given me any sign that she’s i-i-interested,” he argued, sounding disappointed. 

Richie rolled his eyes as he reached for a bottle on the counter to start making himself another drink. He was fairly drunk, but if he had to keep dealing with Bill being like this, he wanted to be drunker, for sure. Richie was not the advice friend, it wasn’t his strong suit. He tasted his concoction and winced, but decided against adding more mixer.

“Has she given you any signs that she’s uninterested, either? You’ll never know if you don’t try and ask her. It’s _ Bev _. She’s not gonna be weird about it, no matter what, so you literally don’t have anything to lose. Shoot your shot, already!” He said almost impatiently. He really didn’t know what else to tell him. If he had any better advice he probably would… who knows. He flicked Bill’s shoulder. 

Bill crossed his arms and tapped his foot, thinking. He seemed to study the corner of the kitchen intensely for a moment, before looking back to Richie and stilling his fidgety movements.

“Yeah? Y-yeah. You’re r-r-right. I should j-just go t-t-talk to her. I-I’m gonna go t-talk to her.” He said, sounding a bit like he was convincing himself. He grabbed Richie by the head and pulled him down so he could place a kiss to his crown, shoved his shoulder, and then spun around to go search for Beverly somewhere in the hordes jammed by where the music was coming from.

Richie called after him as he went.

“Go get her, Mushmouth, you got this!”

He received a middle finger in return from Bill as he walked away.

Bill found Beverly, or spotted her, rather, twirling around by one of the speakers scattered about in the livingroom area. He caught her eye with a wave, and she immediately started cutting her way toward him through the crowd. She was smiling brightly.

When she got to him, she slung her arms around his neck, forcing him to sway with her to the song that was playing.

“Why hello, Billy, to what do I owe the pleasure?” She greeted, all bubbly, seeming like she was struggling not to let herself dissolve into giggles.

Bill didn’t know what to do with his hands, so they just hung there at his sides. He swallowed and returned Beverly’s warm grin.

“The p-pleasure’s all mine.” He replied, and he knew if Richie had heard that he would’ve mimed projectile vomiting all over the place, but he tried not to dwell on that.

This broke Beverly’s attempted resolve, and she laughed, leaning into Bill. He let his hands come up and rest on her back.

“Where’s Rich?” She asked into his shoulder. Bill shrugged.

“Kitchen, I think. I just w-w-wanted to come f-find you.” He admitted. 

She leaned back just a little to look up at his face. They were very close together now.

“Found me. What now?” She said. 

Bill steeled his nerves and leaned in.

—

Mike liked spending time in Stan’s room. It wasn’t messy like Richie’s, or cluttered like Bev’s or Ben’s, and it felt more cozy than Bill’s, and not near-sterile like Eddie’s, and unlike his apartment, it had a friend in it. It was a warm, inviting, tidy little place. Emphasis on _ little _, what with it being a dorm and all, but still. Stan was nice to be around, and so was his room.

After Bill’s, and his own place, the Losers probably spent the most time at Stan’s. Which probably drove him a little crazy, but he never said so. Probably because he liked the company, so he could deal with the noise and the disaster they brought.

But when it was just Stan and Mike, it was quiet. 

They were both finishing up assignments, seated on opposite ends of Stan’s bed with laptops on their laps, just enjoying the silence as they worked, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Stan shot a confused face at Mike, which he returned with a curious arch of his brow, and then went to see who it was.

Without pausing to say hi, Eddie walked in as soon as Stan opened the door.

“I was with Richie until he left for work, but now he’s at work–which, by the way, we gotta turn the radio on soon when he starts his show so we can support our boy–and with him gone, you two are the only ones left I can talk to about this and I _ knew _you’d both be here. So,” he sucked in a long breath, flopping down onto Stan’s bed where he’d just been sitting. 

Stan didn’t say anything, just shared a look with Mike, causing him to stifle a laugh, and then leaned against his desk and crossed his arms.

“You know how Rich and Bill and Bev went to that thing over at that apartment by the farmers market?” Eddie continued, sitting up on his elbows. 

Mike nodded.

“What about it?” He asked, closing his laptop. Clearly the time for quiet productivity was over.

Eddie sat all the way up, and scooted back to the wall and started fiddling with one of Stan’s pillows. Stan watched this wild mild irritation, but also with tenderness for his friend and his nervous habits.

“Bill and Bev _ left _ together. Like _ together _.” He said, eyes wide, looking back and forth between Mike and Stan.

Stan said nothing. Mike cleared his throat, drawing Eddie’s attention.

“Okay… and?” 

Eddie was baffled. He dropped Stan’s pillow back onto the bed.

“And? _ And?! _ Michael, two of our best friends are canoodling, or at least canoodl _ ed _. Are you telling me you don’t care!?”

Mike couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Canoodling?” He asked.

Eddie looked like he was ready to get mad at the focus on his word choice instead of his announcement, but Stan was interjecting before he had the chance.

“I mean, this has kind of been a long time coming, hasn’t it?” He said nonchalantly, smoothing down the front of his shirt. “Bill has been starry eyed over Beverly since the first time he met her.”

Eddie rubbed his arm, half-frowning.

“Well, I guess so,” he replied, “but just because they had vibes didn’t necessarily mean it was gonna lead to anything. And I don’t know about y’all, but I didn’t know she liked Bill back. We all knew Bill liked _ her _, except maybe Bev, but I’m still surprised by this new development. Unspoken tension was like, the norm, here. Wasn’t it?”

“If it was, then it’s not anymore, huh?” Mike responded with a slight laugh. Stan nodded.

“Yeah. Huh.” Eddie agreed, staring into the middle distance.

The earlier silence settled upon the room again for a moment as they all just thought to themselves, about the same and different things, and then Eddie was shaking his head.

“Anyway, where’s your radio? It’s almost eight!”


	3. Chapter 3

Richie was packing up to leave the radio station, it being nearly 11pm, when he paused to check his phone. 

Most of his notifications were normal things. Some snapchat streaks, a few likes on twitter and instagram, and a couple messages in the Losers club groupchat, mostly about what day would work for their meeting next week. But he also had 9 texts from Eddie.

[Eds Spagheds]

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 7:58pm _

_ —i’m listening for u to start !!! _

_ —with Stan and Mike, too, not just me _

_ —they say hi btw _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 8:01pm _

_ —it you!!! _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 8:57pm _

_ —wow u really skipped over an opportunity to make a ur mom joke just then _

_ —i couldn’t be prouder _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 9:34pm _

_ —oh my god u sound like a dying whale please never do another ariana grande impression _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 10:00pm _

_ —u just did an actual radio show _

_ —can’t believe my best friend is an actual celebrity now lmaO _

As he was reading these and smiling to himself, Richie watched another three pop up.

[Eds Spagheds]

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 11:43pm _

_ —seriously though i hope you know how cool this is and how proud me and everybody are of u, Rich _

_ —also _

_ —what’re u doin rn? _

Heading out into the hallway, away from the booths and toward the front door, Richie adjusted his backpack on his shoulder as he texted back.

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 11:44pm _

_ —headin home now, i was helping w/ some shit around the station _

_ —u still at Stans? _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 11:45pm _

_ —oh, no _

_ —he and Mike said they’d listen to the digital recording of the rest of ur show on the website 2morrow and left to go to the library @ like 8:45 _

_ —i’m just at my dorm _

_ … _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 11:48pm _

_ —u wanna come over? _

Not even bothering to type out a reply, Richie just sent a picture of a raccoon making an OK hand gesture from his camera roll and then locked his phone.

He hustled across campus to Eddie’s building, and nodded to the person working at the desk as he headed in. He knew most of the staff (as acquaintances or less, though, for the most part, because the Loser’s club was maybe just a little clique-y, but well enough, anyway), so he rarely ever had to actually check into any of the dorm buildings. Convenient for all the times he wanted to drop in on his friends unannounced, or just without having to wait for them to come out and get him.

He pulled off his coat and slung it over his shoulder as he strode through to Eddie’s door and knocked a rhythmic little pattern on it with a heavy hand.

When the door opened, he was greeted with a jump-hug that was almost a tackle, and then Eddie ran around behind and shoved him inside. He was already talking as Richie started to kick off his shoes and make a little pile of his stuff on the floor.

“I listened to your whole show and it was good, obviously, but also it sounded like your throat was dry toward the end— you gotta make sure to drink water while you’re hosting, or you’re gonna fuck up your vocal chords! And if you lose your voice then you can’t do your job. So like, _ c’mon _. But tell me everything, how’re you feeling? Did your boss say anything?” Eddie was pacing as he spoke.

Richie laid down on the bed, half-propping himself up on Eddie’s stack of hypoallergenic pillows. He watched Eddie continue walking in a little circle around the room for a moment before answering.

“I had water, and I drank some, _ Dr. K, _I just didn’t finish it. I’ll be better about that next time. Probably. My boss was happy, and I’m feeling good. Anyway, I’m glad you liked it. Bev sent me a snapchat of herself cracking up at my impersonation of the university chancellor, but I haven’t heard from Bill yet, and since Stan and Mike didn’t listen to it I assume I’ll get full reviews once they do. I appreciate the live feedback, by the way.” He shook his phone toward Eddie as he said the last part, and Eddie flushed red a little, which made Richie’s heart clench. 

He patted the bed next to himself, and even though Eddie rolled his eyes he still came over and sat beside him.

“Had to make sure you weren’t on your phone when you were working, obviously. But you’re welcome. You really did do great.” 

They looked into each other’s eyes after he said this, Richie thinking that he was maybe letting a little too much softness show through in his own but not caring enough to try and stop it. Eddie seemed like he had something he wanted to say and it made Richie feel like holding his breath, but then he shook his head and reclined on the pillows too, instead. 

Then he did speak, but it was definitely not whatever words he _ almost _ said.

“So Bill and Bev, huh?”

Richie nodded, sinking down on the bed a little.

“Yeah, Bill and Bev. _ Finally _ . Billiam has been _ crazy _ for her since before we even ended our fling, so it’s about damn time if you ask me. Weirdly though,” he said, cocking his head, “I got like _ one _ text from Bev, and that snap, and streaks from Bill, but otherwise it’s been radio silence since they left the party. Neither of them have said anything in the groupchat. I hope they’re not about to be a couple that ignores their friends.” He furrowed his brows. Eddie bumped their shoulders together.

“I doubt they would be. Bev loves you, she probably just doesn’t wanna say too much right away to her ex about her blossoming relationship with his best friend. She’ll be spamming you memes on Instagram before you know it. And Bill? He can’t handle being away from you for more than like a day or two at a time, and I think he might explode without a weekly dose of Stan, and I’m _ way _ too charming to go without. And nothing beats all of us together.” He reassured, but Richie had a faraway look in his eyes that didn’t fully disappear even when he smiled back at Eddie.

Hooking his arm around Eddie’s neck, he pulled him into his shoulder and planted a noisy kiss on his forehead by his hairline. Laughing.

“You got one thing right— you _ are _ too charming, _ Eddie-Bear _.”

Upon his using Eddie’s mother’s nickname for him, Richie immediately got smacked in the face with a pillow (sending his glasses flying), and pounced on by his smaller friend. He just continued laughing.

“I will _ end you! _” Eddie informed him, attempting to smother him. 

Richie lifted him off and set him to the side with ease, still chuckling as he felt around on the bed for his glasses, shaking his head.

“I’ll believe that when I see it. Now help me find my glasses, Tiny.”

—

Bev sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor in Ben’s room. Her face was in her hands, and she was staring at a google document on her computer screen that was blank but for her name and a place-holder title. She sighed.

Ben looked up from the project he was working on for his 3D modeling class, and assessed her expression. He turned down the study tunes playlist he had playing through the speaker on his desk.

“How ya doing?” He asked, fidgeting with the exact-o he’d been using to cut foam boards for his assignment. Bev hung her head in response.

“I can’t focus on this paper for the life of me. All I can think about is how I haven’t texted Bill back, and that I still don’t want to right now. It’s been two days. Am I a terrible person?”

Ben swallowed.

He knew it was on him for never saying anything to Beverly about his feelings for her that led him to where he was now, pained to know that she chose Bill. But he could handle that, because at least she was comfortable enough to talk to him, it almost made up for not being the one she liked that way. What he wasn’t sure he could handle was seeing her upset because of Bill. He hated to see her unhappy. While part of him knew Bill wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, or, well, definitely not on purpose, he couldn’t help but feel the slightest flicker of protectiveness inside.

“No. You’re a great person. This has no effect on that. But do you wanna talk about it? Why don’t you wanna text him?” He chewed the inside of his cheek as he spoke.

Bev flopped onto her back on the floor, groaning.

“That’s the worst part— I don’t even really _ know! _ I love Bill, I love _ all y’all _ , and like… I did have fun and whatever. But I also think it was stupid, now, and I wanna pretend it never happened. I was drunk, he was drunk, we were being silly and impulsive. But it’s _ Bill _ . So I can’t just act like it was nothing, because it was obviously _ something! _ And he’s texting me all sweetly, now, wanting to make date plans, and to talk about _ us, _ I guess. Which is cute, but like, aaaAAA?! Y’know? _ God, _I have no idea what to do.” She dug the heels of her palms into her eye sockets, rubbing like she could wipe the troubles from her mind if she tried hard enough.

Ben was relieved that it seemed like Bill hadn’t been stupid, or anything. No more stupid than usual, anyway. It seemed like Bev’s turmoil was internal. He extended his leg and gently poked her side with his sock-clad toe, causing her to look up at him. He offered a small, warm smile.

“You’re right, it _ is _Bill. Which means that no matter what you do or say, nothing bad is gonna happen, because he’s your friend. So it seems like you just need to figure out what you want. And then communicate it, too, obviously. But it’s gonna be okay! I can understand why you feel like freaking out, dealing with emotions and being a person is hard. Existence and being known is wack, sometimes. But you got this, really! So,” he cleared his throat, pausing to give both himself and her a moment to start to collect their thoughts.

“What _ do _ you want?”

Bev closed her eyes. Ben nodded to himself, turned the music back up a little, and turned back to his work. He wanted to give her the time and space she needed to think.

—

Bill paced back and forth, hands switching from resting on his hips to stuffing themselves in his pockets to gesturing almost wildly as he muttered sort of to himself, while Stan watched.

It had been over 48 hours since Bev had left his dorm the night of the party. He’d been texting her, like usual, but with the context of what had happened between them in mind, and she hadn’t made a peep. No response. 

He’d been a little stressed about what she’d reply with and how it would go since the first text he sent (over a day ago). But with each passing hour of hearing nothing back, he got closer to total panic. So much so that he definitely wasn’t even really checking any of his other notifications or hitting anyone up to talk or hangout. He was laser-focused on Bev’s lack of communication. An outside perspective might come to the conclusion that he was being ridiculous, and he _ kinda _ was, but he and Bev normally talked almost all day everyday. That’s how it was with all the Losers. So not talking was _ not good _. Hence the feeling ready to tear out his hair. He probably would’ve self-isolated completely, but he had made movie night plans with Stan earlier in the week and hadn’t thought to text for a raincheck, so he had shown up and now was patiently witnessing Bill’s mini-breakdown.

Bill stopped in his tracks and stared at his phone, the last three texts he’d sent (all from today) staring back at him.

[Queen Beverly]

_ Bill Denbrough _

_ 11:47am _

_ —hey, was wonderin if u wanted to get lunch ??? _

_ Bill Denbrough _

_ 1:32pm _

_ —got some takeout from that puerto rican restaurant you like so hmu if you want leftovers, i’ll b around _

_ Bill Denbrough _

_ 6:25pm _

_ —are we ok? _

His blue message bubbles with no grey ones below them felt like a cruel joke. Not necessarily an intentional one, but still. He rolled his jaw.

Stan cleared his throat.

When Bill looked up at hearing this, he saw that Stan wore a tired but understanding expression on his face. He motioned for Bill to sit down.

It took him a moment, but then he did. On the edge of his bed next to Stan.

“S-suh-sorry,” he said sheepishly, dropping his hands in his lap but still holding onto his phone. Stan shook his head.

“Don’t be. I’d probably be worried if it seemed like I was getting ghosted, too. Things are gonna work out, though, Bill. We just have to get you to relax. What can I do?” He asked with a warm, empathetic look. 

Bill shrugged.

“D-distract me, I guess. The movie’ll p-p-probably work, but t-that’s not ‘t-t-til 10:30.”

Stan made a face.

“Distract you? How?” 

“Tell me w-what’s been up w-with you, or s-something, Stanny. G-g-give me suh-some life updates.” Bill said.

Stan considered this, leaning back slightly onto his hands. At first he thought about just rambling about current topics in his classes or something, just to have anything to say, but then something occurred to him. Slowly, a small smile spread across his face and his head lolled to rest on his shoulder, and he exhaled a sort of half-sigh.

“Well,” he started, “I met this girl.”

Bill’s eyes widened. He rounded on Stan with a look that said _ go on! _

So Stan launched into a story about how he got into an argument with a girl in his Jewish cultural studies lecture over their different interpretations of a reading, and was about to leave in a sour mood, when she came over to him while he was packing up after class. And asked him out to get coffee so they could continue their debate, or not. And for some reason he said yes.

He went on to describe finding her incredibly annoying but also wholly and completely endearing. Apparently, he had even missed his next class that first day knowing her because he accidentally lost track of time just talking with her at the café they went to. Which was uncharacteristic for him, but that was sweet. He seemed smitten.

“Her name is Patty. I think she likes me, but she also said something offhandedly about not looking for anything serious, so it’s not like there’s really much going on, but I like her. She’s fun.” He said, running a hand through his curls.

Bill beamed at him.

“Aw, Stanley, I’m s-so happy for you, m-mman! She s-s-sounds great!! Are w-we gonna get to m-m-meet her?” He elbowed Stan lightly as he spoke. Stan laughed.

“Of course, but maybe not right away. Don’t wanna scare her, y’know? Our friend group is a pretty intense experience for people who aren’t in it already. And even for those of us who are, sometimes, too. So, it’ll happen eventually, but not yet.” He replied. He folded his leg so his ankle was tucked under his knee and looked to Bill.

Bill shook his head in agreement. He knew their squad dynamic could be intimidating to outsiders, that was a valid concern. It had taken a while for it to even become the way it was now, perfectly comfortable and stable extended beyond the original four of them. But they were all glad for it, and would all swear they had the perfect selection of friends, that they were lucky. Which mostly just made it even scarier for new people, but they weren’t assholes, so it’d be fine. Nothing is stagnant, and what better reason to change again than for someone who makes one of their own so happy.

While he’d been thinking about all this, he hadn’t realized that Stan had been staring at him with a gentle look in his eyes, so when he did he almost startled. He flashed a smile.

“Uh-understandable. A-anyway, w-wwhat t-time is it? S-should we head out t-t-to catch the t-train to thuh-the theater?”

Stan checked his watch, and then nodded. So they threw themselves together and off they went. Bill with a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach as they did.


	4. Chapter 4

Bev was tired.

She worked on call on Thursday night, and had a  _ ton  _ of homework, and then class from 9:30am until around 4:00pm the next day. Which wasn’t uncommon, that was a relatively normal workload. But she didn’t usually also not get any sleep even when she wasn’t working because she spent half the night tearing her hair out over what to do about Bill. That was new.

And Ben had been understanding and supportive about her being stressed, and it had helped a little, but it didn’t bring her back her lost sleep. So she felt way too defeated and drained to go out with Richie that night like they had originally planned.

But he was  _ not _ to be dissuaded. So he had come over from his dorm in his pajamas with a large bag of doritos for them to split, and was now sprawled across the end of her bed. She sat folded in the upper corner. Richie flicked her knee.

“Talk to me, Gingernuts. You’re clearly going through it. I’m all ears.” He said earnestly.

Bev stretched out like a cat, draping her legs across his midsection, sighing.

“Well,” she began, sounding thoroughly worn, “I think I realized I don’t like Bill the same way he likes me. The other day was  _ fun _ and whatever but it probably shouldn’t have happened. So now I’m scared to tell him and hurt him or make everything weird. I’m just worried about how it’ll all go, I guess.” 

She glanced up to make sure the plastic bag she’d secured around the smoke detector on the ceiling was still in place, and then reached into the pocket of her coat that was hanging on her bed post and produced a half-empty pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She went to offer one to Richie but he dismissed her with a lazy wave of his hand, holding up a cheap little vape with his other one as if to say  _ I’m good. _

He sat up a little bit, holding her legs to keep them from slipping off of him as he did.

“I gotta tell you, from what little bit of his end I’ve heard from Stan, I think the hearing nothing from you is worse for Bill than you just letting him down gently. He’ll be bummed, of course. But he loves you and us all way too much to let the end of a little romantic experiment ruin it. Besides, you and me did this once and look at us.” He shot her an encouraging smile and gave her thigh a hearty squeeze (accompanied by an eyebrow wiggle). 

She rolled her eyes.

“You’re an idiot, but you’re right. I know you are. I just have to bring myself to actually say something to him. Once this is off my chest I’ll feel way better, free to figure out what the other feelings I may or may not be having even are.” She said, looking off to the opposite wall of her room. 

Richie arched a brow, quickly turning toward her. 

“‘Other feelings’?”

She slowly met his eyes, blushing.

“I think I might have a crush.” She admitted. 

Richie stood up, disentangling himself and striking an (arguably) romantic pose against the wall, looking a little like a gangly monkey as he did.

“On  _ me _ , baby? Why didn’t you lead with that? You know these lovin’ arms have just been  _ waitin’ _ for your dramatic return! It’s been a—“ He was cut off by the pillow that Bev threw hitting him in the face. She was laughing and also flipping him off.

They both knew it wasn’t on him, but it was no surprise that he acted like it might be, either. 

As he clambered back onto the bed, she rested her head on his shoulder. And he dropped a hand in her hair. She leaned into it.

“I think I like Ben. Just  _ maybe _ , so you can’t be a bigmouth about it. But yeah.” She said softly.

Richie tilted her head back so he could look in her eyes.

“Our Ben? Whaaat? Since when??? Why am I only hearing about this now?!” He pressed his free hand to his heart in mock offense at having been kept in the dark. She snorted.

“Probably for a while, but it only occurred to me  _ today _ . I was with him earlier needing help to deal with the Bill situation and he told me to think about what I really wanted and I like, I swear I’ll kill you if you laugh at how cheesy this is, but, I had this thought— ‘I just want this to be easy like it is with  _ you’ _ and freaked myself out. In a good way, unlike my freaking out about not having gotten back to Bill, but still. I didn’t say anything because I still need some time to think it over so I’m sure I’m not just being impulsive again, but I feel  _ good _ about it.”

And she did. She could feel herself smiling, small but unabashedly. Richie seemed to be reeling.

“Well great, because he’s fully been in love with you since the day he met you!” He exclaimed, shaking her shoulders.

Bev shook her head slowly, but she wasn’t disagreeing.

“I’m not blind, Richie. I was aware he had an interest in me. In case you forgot, I’m pretty good at recognizing attraction in mens’ eyes, I’m all too familiar with it. Remember how I called you out for staring at my legs during training before we knew each other? Yeah. I’m not so good at being able to tell when someone cares about me, like, romantically, though, I guess. It took some time. But he really does, doesn’t he?” She marveled at the idea.

Richie nodded vigorously.

“It sure seems like it.”

This was interesting. She didn’t doubt that Bill cared for her, but there was something so strong and pure about the feelings coming from Ben that she had not fully believed they could be real. But it was evident to her from the way he was that there was no way he could really be anything less than genuine. And that made her heart feel light. 

Richie patted her on the cheek.

“I’m happy to see you happy about this, B. Really.” He said warmly, and then leaned back a bit. “Now text Bill so this show can get rolling, huh? We gotta get you through this bit so you can have the sappy Ben part.  _ Ándale _ !” He was being stupid about it, but he was truly trying to hype her up to get it over with. 

She nodded. 

“Okay, okay! I’m on it!! Anyway, what’s up with you? How’s everything in Trashmouth town?? I feel like I haven’t got any life updates from you in forever!” She shifted the focus to Richie, getting up to get her phone from across the room.

He blew out a long breath.

“Oh, you know, same old same old. Behind on schoolwork, doing the bare minimum for our job, not getting enough sleep or getting too much.” He shrugged. “I like hosting at the station, and I’m super excited to get to do that all the time now. That’s pretty much the only thing I really have going on.” He said. And then he chuckled.

“What?” Bev asked, walking back over as she opened the text conversation with Bill and couldn’t help but cringe at all his messages and her lack of an answer, even as she was about to remedy it.

Richie made a face.

“I went to Eddie’s after I got off last night and he just went  _ total _ Mother Hen on me about drinking water while I work. It was funny.” He laughed softly again.

Bev grinned. It was a complicated expression, even if it didn’t appear that way on the surface. It was a grin that was trying to both mask and contain her curiosity and encouragement and impatience and delight all at once. But it probably just looked like a wacky smile.

“Aww, that’s cute. He was worried about you!” She said. She wrinkled her nose and wiggled her head at Richie.

Richie half-laughed half-scoffed in response.

“I think he usually is, though.” His eyes went wide behind his thick frames as he spoke. “Worried! About me. Worried about me, that is. Usually worried about me. Not cute. Obviously! Not that he’s—“

“Right, anyway how is that little fuck? Mike and Stan tell me he’s been freaking out about me and Bill more than either of us combined.” Bev cut off Richie’s scrambling, changing the subject slightly and saving him from himself. And he was visibly relieved that she had.

He threw his head back, it just bumping the wall, making an exaggerated gesture like he might faint.

“It’s been almost the only thing he could talk about since he heard. Sorry about that, by the way. If I knew he was gunning for my spot as group loudmouth I wouldn’t have said anything.” He gave her a genuinely apologetic look. 

Bev waved a hand dismissively. She wasn’t expecting it to stay on the down low.

“It wasn’t a secret, no stress.” She added with a shrug. “Besides, I think he’s just living vicariously through me, since his last grindr guy fell through.”

Bev was joking but she struggled not to choke on her laugh as she watched Richie’s face fall.

“Grindr guy? I hadn’t heard about this.” His words sounded fragile, but the tone was off because he was trying really hard to sound nonchalant. 

This was not the first time Bev had watched Richie try and mask his emotions, but she still felt her heart ache for him every time he did it. He was more real with her than probably anyone besides Stan, which was a point of accomplishment for her, but even she couldn’t get him to open up about certain things. And she figured nobody could, unless he decided on his own to let them in. The exception to the rule being that if Eddie ever asked about the things he didn’t wanna talk about, he’d probably spill the beans to  _ him _ . But those two were awful at communicating clearly about their feelings. So that wouldn’t happen, and didn’t really count.

She tried to keep it light even though she could tell Richie was processing about a hundred things below the surface.

“Well,  _ duh _ . It fell through, he probably didn’t wanna sound like a loser to our resident tinder date Casanova, so he didn’t mention it. Don’t embarrass him about it, alright?” She held him by the cheeks as she spoke, and from that close she watched the tiniest flicker of a frown cross his face before he settled into a calculated smugness.

“I won’t, but if his game is  _ that bad _ maybe he needs lessons or something.”

Bev quirked a brow.

“Should I tell him you’re offering?” She teased.

“No!” Richie’s eyes nearly went wide again but he caught himself, forcing them to roll instead. “Shut up. Now, are we getting takeout delivered or no? Because I’m  _ starving _ !”

She agreed to food, and started to open an app to order delivery, but out of the corner of her eye she could see a shadow pass over Richie’s gaze before he shook it off and continued to pretend he couldn’t be affected.


	5. Chapter 5

Mike was happy to see that Bill was taking Bev just wanting to stay friends really well, but it seemed like something else was bothering him. Bill wasn’t always guarded or anything, but when he didn’t want to share something, he was an excellent deflector. Like Richie, he could obfuscate his feelings like a champ. Though he did it with considerably fewer jokes about fucking, but still. Maybe that was one of the reasons those two worked as best friends. Who could say.

It was early afternoon and they were lounging around.

Bill finished crisply folding a paper airplane and then launched it across the apartment toward the kitchen. It flew smoothly, almost elegantly, and landed on the counter. 

Richie huffed.

“How come you did that on your first try, but my last _ five _ crashed behind the couch immediately after I let go of them?” He complained, crumpling the half-finished plane he’d been working on into a ball and throwing it at Bill, who dodged it easily. Mike smiled as he watched this. He knew he’d end up having to clean up remnants of this nonsense later when he was alone in his apartment, but he didn’t mind so much when he got to watch Richie get frustrated over it. It was entertaining.

“Probably b-because you’re a useless s-sl-slug of a man, Ricky-boy. Meanwhile I’m a s-specimen of human e-eh-excellence. If you s-stay for d-dinner maybe I can teach you, young padawan, and some of m-my skill can rub o-o-off on you.” Bill taunted. 

“Wouldn’t be the first thing to rub off on me.” Richie said with a wink, receiving two distinct exaggerated groans of disgust in response, and then shook his head. “And I would, but I told you I’m busy tonight.”

Bill made a dumb half-pouty half-mad face, and crossed his arms.

“B-busy with what?”

“You know how I went to that campus Esports competition for shits and giggles? I met this guy there who just so happened to have tickets to see The Honeysticks, who y’all fucking _ know _I love, and he just—outta nowhere when we were just talking about music during some downtime—goes, ‘there’s this band playing on Sunday at the Chop Shop and I need someone to come with me, you in?’, and then insisted I had to come when I told him I knew who was playing before he even told me. So I’m going, obviously. I’d take any free concert, let alone one I wanted to go to anyway!” Richie spoke excitedly, turning so he could hang his leg over the side of the arm chair he was sitting in. 

Mike thought about asking him not to, since the arms on the chair were already kinda loose, but decided it wasn’t that big of a deal. Instead, he just tucked his pen behind his ear and reclined in his own seat a bit.

“Sounds like it’ll be fun! He cute?” He asked.

Richie looked down, rubbing the back of his neck, but smiled just a little. Even though he hadn’t been hiding the fact he was interested in men for a few years now, he never _ officially _ came out in any way. And since he still mostly dated and hooked up with girls, the topic didn’t often come up. For those reasons, he wasn’t exactly used to talking about guys being cute. Well, except for Eddie, of course. But that was a whole other conversation. 

He cleared his throat.

“Yeah, actually. He is. It’s not like that, though, Mikey. I don’t think he’s interested in me other than as a friend with good taste in music. I’ll keep you posted, though.” He replied with a laugh.

“Y-you n-n-never know! M-maybe he is!” Bill said, raising his eyebrows, to which Richie just shook his head and then rolled out of his seat and onto his feet.

“Maybe. Anyway, Mike, you got milk in your fridge?”

“Yeah,” he answered, a little confused by the segue, “why?”

Richie wandered into the kitchen. He opened a couple cabinets before finding the one he was looking for and rifling through it.

“‘Cause I wanna drink some of it?? I’m stealing your tall Miami Beach souvenir glass to drink it out of, too.” He replied. 

Mike made a face.

“Pour me a glass while you’re up, too!” Bill called to him, adding a thumbs up without sitting up, so just his hand showed over the top of the couch to where Richie was standing. Richie responded with an affirmative grunt.

Mike looked around wildly, like he was wondering if he’d been teleported into an alternate dimension.

“You’re just gonna drink milk? Plain milk? While not even eating anything?” He questioned the room, looking baffled. Bill nodded.

“Uh huh.” Richie said.

Mike pulled out his phone.

“Y’all are nasty.” He informed them, opening the groupchat.

[LOSERSCLUBONLY]

_ Mike Hanlon _

_ 1:15pm _

_ –Not sure if youre all aware but Rich and Bill are disgusting freaks of nature _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 1:15pm _

_ –we know this all too well _

_ Stan Uris _

_ 1:18pm _

_ –We are well aware, yes. _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 1:19pm _

_ –whatd they do this time tho ??? _

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 1:19pm _

_ –yeah mike :( _

_ –whatever did we do :( :( :( _

_ Mike Hanlon _

_ 1:20pm _

_ –You know what youre doing, you beast _

_ –Theyre drinking plain 2% milk straight and not even having any food with it _

_ Bev Marsh _

_ 1:22pm _

_ –abominable _

_ –truly monstrous _

_ Stan Uris _

_ 1:25pm _

_ –Just drink water if you’re thirsty??? _

_ Bill Denbrough _

_ 1:26pm _

_ –its not about thirst, its about the flavor _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 1:26pm _

–..._but milk only tastes good when youre eating like cookies or breakfast foods or something with it _

_Richie Tozier_

_1:27pm_

_-youre vaguely lactose intolerant so your milk hottakes are invalid _

_ Bev Marsh _

_ 1:27pm _

_ –milk never tastes GOOD its a neutral thing that just goes with certain meals because thats just the way the universe works _

_ –im not currently taking critiques, thats the truth and thats all there is to it _

_ Ben Hanscom _

_ 1:30pm _

_ –what did I miss here? why are we talking about milk? _

_ Bill Denbrough _

_ 1:31pm _

_ –because its delicious _

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 1:31pm _

_ –retweet _

_ Mike Hanlon _

_ 1:31pm _

_ –get out of my house, heathens _

_ Richie Tozier _

_ 1:32pm _

_ –after we finish our milk <3 _


	6. Chapter 6

“And then she goes ‘That campus clinic’s hours are unacceptable— it closes at  _ six pm _ , Eddie! What if you get sick  _ after _ dinner time?! I think we should complain to the university student support desk!’ Meanwhile I’m just trying to study for a test I had today, and she’s completely ignoring me telling her there’s a hospital like a block and a half from campus, and I’m just so annoyed!” Eddie ranted to his friends about his mom, angrily cutting out giant pictures of candy to decorate his floor’s bulletin board with. 

Richie scribbled on a big piece of cardstock, shaking his head. And Bev sighed in a weary tone of understanding.

They were all sitting on the floor of Eddie’s dorm, crafting supplies and snacks all around. Richie had a playlist he made on shuffle, and some indie/alt rock tunes were playing quietly in the background. 

Eddie tossed down the unfinished piece he was working on, rubbing his eyes.

“Understandably. Didn’t she beg you to call her this week because she ‘misses you and wants to hear about your life’?” Richie said, brows wrinkled. Partially in sympathy with Eddie’s frustration and partially in indecision about whether or not the drawing he did of a cartoony looking condom was identifiable as what it was supposed to be or not.

Eddie pointed at Richie emphatically.

“Yes! Exactly! She whines that I never tell her about me anymore, but then when I  _ try _ to she doesn’t listen to even half of what I’m saying and just tries to control what I do! I hate that I’m out of her house but she thinks I’m still under her thumb, like??? I’m an adult??? She’s still in my life because I  _ let her be _ , because I wanna move on from how things were when I was a kid, but I guess she doesn’t get that that is  _ incredibly  _ generous of me.” He frowned as he spoke. 

Richie knew that some of this irritation wasn’t even Eddie being angry at his mom's behavior, really, anymore. He was used to her nonsense at this point, it’d been this way his whole life. Some of it was just bitterness that he didn’t have any family that called out of genuine caring and who wouldn’t try to manipulate him all the way from another state. It was exhaustion with being the grownup who dealt with the unfairness, and who was willing to work around it to a certain degree for the sake of someone who didn’t even really deserve all that effort from him. Being the bigger person indefinitely could be draining. It makes you wonder why you have to, and what makes it fair that you couldn’t just have what other people had. And Richie felt for him. 

There were some moments not meant for him to make a joke about how he was fucking Sonia, and this was one of those moments, he knew. Because as much as he’d never cut it out for good, she really was a really shitty mom. He knew that. Eddie deserved better.

He started to reach for Eddie’s hand, just to give it a comforting squeeze, since there wasn’t much else he could offer as solace from his parental predicament, but then he saw Bev staring at him out of the corner of her eye over the top of her laptop. So he drew back. She seemed… exasperated by this, which Richie found  _ deeply _ confusing, but decided against dwelling on, instead refocusing his attention on his dear upsetti Spaghetti.

He lightly thwapped Eddie in the arm with the capped end of the marker he was holding, offering a supportive smile when Eddie looked his direction. He smiled back at Richie, and in a soft sort of way that made him feel like maybe that meant he’d done something right and good for once. Like he was right and good. His neck went warm, and he looked away from Eddie, quickly.

Bev cleared her throat.

“Does, uh, does this look okay?” She asked, turning her laptop around and showing Richie and Eddie a colorful diagram explaining the differences between birth assigned sex, primary and secondary sex characteristics, gender identity, and gender expression. 

Eddie squinted at it, and Richie adjusted his glasses, both studying it intently, before nodding in unison. Richie also chucked a thumbs up her way.

“I like the doodle of a uterus in the top corner. Artistic. Tasteful. Informative.” Eddie said with a goofy grin, seeming more light-hearted than a few moments ago when his mother had been at the forefront of his mind. 

This made Richie chuckle, too, at ease now seeing Eddie less worked up.

“It looks kinda more like a squash with antenna on it than it does like human anatomy, but I love it. That’s the energy I  _ want _ in bulletin board décor.” He added. 

Bev kicked his leg.

“Shut up, your condom looks like a  _ kazoo _ !”

“Gesundheit!” He smiled lopsidedly, proud of himself and his dumb joke.

Eddie snorted, suppressing a full on cackle. Which only made Richie’s crooked smile grow wider. And fonder. Bev groaned.

“Don’t you encourage him!” She scolded, throwing a piece of scrap paper in Eddie’s direction. He ducked and dodged it, but then scooped it up from the floor and threw it in the trash, rolling his eyes.

“Too late,” Richie announced, hooking an arm around Eddie’s shoulders and pretending he didn’t notice his cheeks go pink in response or the way Bev’s eyes widened at the scene just slightly. “I’ve already been thoroughly encouraged. I’m all stocked up on encouragement. Ready to wreak havoc, fueled by Edward’s singular giggle. Unstoppable.”

Eddie went beet red.

“I do  _ not  _ **giggle** !” He shouted indignantly, shoving Richie over, and toppling himself in the process, landing sprawled half-on and half-between Richie’s legs. Richie’s heart was in his throat for some reason as he chuckled at the disaster that he had brought on, and the continuation of it that would surely ensue as Eddie launched into a monologue about how his laugh  _ couldn’t possibly be categorized as anything so childish sounding _ , or something like that. 

But just as Eddie was opening his mouth again, presumably to do as predicted, Bev shut her laptop with a decisive click. And proceeded to lean across the floor and flick both boys in their respective ears.

“Can we focus for just a little while longer? I really wanna get this shit done so I can go home and crawl into bed. Just save all of this chaos for like a half an hour later when I leave.  _ Please _ . Pretty please.” They froze as she looked at them with a hint of desperation in her eyes, saying this.

Eddie pushed off of Richie, nodding, and Richie just straightened up, shrugged, and reached for his markers, both sufficiently reminded of the task at hand by Bev’s little request. For now.

But repeated instances of distraction still occurred intermittently, inevitably, at a seemingly exponential rate of frequency, no matter how hard she tried to keep the other two on track. 

It was almost three hours later when everything was done.

. . .

Bev loved her friends, she did, but she wanted to kill them. Viciously. 

Instead, she sent a text.

  
  


[Bill the Wise, Stanny]

_ Beverly Marsh _

_ 1:27am _

_ –... _

_ –just for future reference, since you two’ve known these buffoons the longest _

_ –what does one do when Ed + Rich wont shut up and stop oogling each other for 3 seconds so they can get some work done even when youve pleaded with them to help a girl out and pay attention to what yallre doing for just long enough to get it over with so you can go to sleep at a reasonable time??? _

_ –this is a completely hypothetical question and im asking for a friend _

_ –(i h8 them) _

_ _

_ — _

Several days later, after a too-loud argument in the cafeteria a few days before between classes about which Star Trek movie was the best, Richie and Eddie had vowed to rewatch all of them together. Richie being determined to prove that it was a fourway tie between Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, Star Trek 2009, and Star Trek Beyond, and Eddie inclined to say it was a threeway tie between Wrath of Khan, First Contact, and Into Darkness. Nevermind that Wrath of Khan, being an overlapping contender for best, was a point of agreement. The rest of their lists being contested was enough material with which to fight  _ forever _ . So the only solution was to watch them all again and rank them together, once and for all. A galaxy brain conclusion, to be sure.

_ _

Because of this, Eddie was headed over Richie’s dorm in his pajamas and an oversized hoodie with his toothbrush and his nighttime skincare stuff weighing down the big pocket on the front. They were gonna watch the first two original series movies, at least, tonight. If they could stay awake, they’d marathon a couple more. Eddie was excited.

_ _

[Dick Tozier]

_ _

_ Eddie Kaspbrak _

_ 10:31pm _

_ –on my wayyy !!! _

_ _

Sure, he liked Star Trek, but mostly this was about having a movie night with Richie. They hungout plenty, of course, but there was something extra nice about a planned night in with just the two of them. He knew he was being, frankly, pathetic, but he would take what he could get from Richie, whatever that was. And alone time together in his dorm was certainly  _ something. _

_ _

When he arrived, Richie swept him in eagerly and practically stuffed a buffet of snacks into his arms. He was already drinking an energy drink from a swirly straw, between handfuls of freshly made popcorn.

_ _

Arranging their watch-setup took a bit of time. Eddie meticulously positioned Richie’s array of mismatched pillows, perfectly placed for maximum comfort. And Richie had to run his laptop charger up from the outlet under the bed to the little makeshift laptop table/tray he’d constructed out of textbooks near the end of his bed. Plus there was organizing the snacks and grabbing plenty of drinks so they wouldn’t have to get up unless they needed an emergency bathroom break. They liked to think they had perfected the movie marathon system. Eddie was pretty sure there couldn’t be anybody who did it better. 

_ _

And he was even more certain when at some point, halfway through Wrath of Khan, Richie’s arm made its way around Eddie’s shoulders. His eyes were glued to Kirk doing space captain things on screen, but Eddie couldn’t stop peeking at the side of his face. 

_ _

The line of Richie’s jaw made Eddie want to reach out and touch. And the muscles in his neck, the way his hair fell by his ear and on his cheek, the shadows and light cast on his face as the screen flickered because of his stupid glasses, it all seemed somehow so perfect and endearing and… Eddie could just imagine getting to trail his fingers over Richie’s freckles, to take those glasses off his face and look him in the eyes and lean in and and  _ and and and _ !!!

_ _

He tried not to, because it was  _ ridiculous.  _ Of all the people who were worth fantasizing about and staring at dreamily, Richie had to be at the bottom of the list.

_ _

_ Like, come on,  _ he thought,  _ this guy has pinned you down and burped in your face, you’ve watched him pick his nose and wipe it on his jeans, you’ve seen him ripping scabs open, his hands are often sweaty and he never sneezes into his elbow, you knew him when he was a greasy thirteen year old twerp, he smokes cigarettes, there is currently a pile of garbage overflowing from his trash can, he’s eating snacks with his mouth open right now—He. Is.  _ ** _Gross_ ** _ .  _ Not to mention obnoxious, annoying, and straight. 

_ _

_ And your  _ _ best friend! _ _ Your straight best friend! _

_ _

_ Cut it out! _

_ _

It took a fair degree of willpower for Eddie not to groan in frustration at his own mind.

_ _

Richie seemed blissfully unaware of his inner turmoil. And Eddie was glad.

_ _

Not long after, still never having noticed Eddie’s desperate, longing glances, Richie’s eyes started to droop. Eddie watched the entire process of them fluttering closed multiple times before they finally stayed that way, and his breathing got slower and a little louder, and he was  _ fully  _ asleep.

_ _

Eddie held himself rigidly still, like a deer in headlights, for probably much longer than he needed to. Once he was certain Richie wasn’t about to wake up at the slightest movement, he gingerly shut the laptop with the tip of his finger. And then gently shifted it onto the table near his bed. Richie’s only reaction was a half sigh and a lipsmack.

_ _

Even though he didn’t wanna be like this, Eddie couldn’t help but study Richie’s sleeping face in the dim light, like it wasn’t a sight he’d seen a million times before.

_ _

Sleepy himself, Eddie tucked his head into the crook of Richie’s neck, and shortly thereafter drifted off as well.


End file.
